The short answer
Pick Agents Aloud to listen to whole messages; pick Heard for short updates and alerts.
Agents Aloud is a free, MIT-licensed macOS app by malob that reads your Claude Code and Codex sessions aloud. It shows your sessions in a sidebar with a chat-style transcript. Switch Live Speak on for a session and new assistant messages are read as they arrive, in the macOS system voice or ElevenLabs with your own key. It needs macOS 26 and you build it from source with Xcode; its README calls it a personal project that is still evolving quickly.
Heard (heard.dev), the voice layer for coding agents, is a download for macOS 14 or later. Instead of reading messages in full, it speaks questions, approvals and failures as they happen, and results and routine steps depending on the listening mode. Its open-source engine is free; the Mac app has paid plans. Agents Aloud wins on price, on reading the agent’s exact words, and on staying local by default.
Side by side
What each one does.
Agents Aloud facts from its README. Checked October 20, 2026.
| App | What you hear | How it gets the text | Voice | Agents | Requirements | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agents Aloudmalob | Assistant messages, in full, in sessions with Live Speak on, or any message you click | Reads local session transcripts, read-only | macOS system voice; ElevenLabs with your key | Claude Code, Codex | macOS 26+, build with Xcode 26 | Free, MIT |
| Heardvoice layer | Questions, approvals and failures in every mode; results and routine steps by mode (Focus keeps both quiet) | Installs agent hooks | Local Kokoro or your own keys (engine); managed voices (app) | Claude Code, Codex CLI and Codex app; session status for Cursor | macOS 14+, download | Engine free, Apache 2.0; app Pro $15/mo, Power $30/mo, 14-day Power trial |
What Agents Aloud does well.
Agents Aloud is a listening app with a real player. Its sidebar merges your running Claude Code sessions and recent Codex sessions, with a dot on conversations that moved since you last looked. Click Speak on any message, or hold Option to queue it and everything after it. Manual picks jump ahead of auto-read messages, and you can pause, skip and stop from the toolbar, the space bar, your media keys or Now Playing in Control Center and AirPods.
With Live Speak on in several sessions, they share one queue, and you hear “From [session name]” when playback moves from one to another. An optional rewriter runs each message through the Claude or Codex CLI first, so code and URLs are phrased for the ear. It reads transcripts read-only, and with the system voice and the rewriter off nothing leaves your Mac.
- Free and open source (MIT).
- Reads the agent’s exact words.
- Transcript view with a marker where you left off.
- Local by default.
git clone https://github.com/malob/agents-aloud.git && cd agents-aloud
./script/build_and_run.shWhat Heard does differently.
Heard is built so you do not have to read or hear every message. It installs hooks for Claude Code and Codex and turns their events into a sentence or two, so a question, an approval or a failure is spoken as it happens and a long reply becomes a short update. In the app, with several sessions running, routine updates are batched into short summaries that start with the project name. Co-pilot, Companion and Focus modes set how much you hear.
The app adds managed voices and spoken recaps on Pro. On Power you hold right ⌘ to answer an agent by voice, say “Hey Parrot” to ask about a repo, and follow along on the iPhone companion. The open-source engine is a separate Apache 2.0 build you run yourself with local Kokoro voices.
- Short updates instead of whole messages.
- Questions and approvals as they happen.
- A download for macOS 14 or later.
- Voice replies and iPhone on Power.
Pick Agents Aloud to listen to what the agent actually wrote.
If you want to follow an explanation in full, by ear, Agents Aloud reads the agent’s own words and gives you a proper player and transcript to go with them. It is free, keeps everything on your Mac by default, and only reads your transcripts, never writing to them.
Pick Heard to stay on top of agents without listening to every message.
If you run several agents and only want to hear what changed and who needs you, Heard keeps it short and puts questions, approvals and failures first. It also installs as a regular app on macOS 14 or later, covers the Codex desktop app, and on Power lets you answer back by voice.
Running them together.
They get their text in different ways, so they do not interfere, but both may speak about the same moment. One way to split them: Heard for alerts and short updates, and Agents Aloud with Live Speak off, for the messages you choose to play.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is Agents Aloud free?
Yes. Agents Aloud is open source under the MIT license. ElevenLabs is optional and uses your own API key, which ElevenLabs bills.
What do I need to run Agents Aloud?
macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later and Xcode 26 or later to build it. Run ./script/build_and_run.sh from the repo to build, sign and launch the app.
Does Agents Aloud send my code anywhere?
Not by default. It reads Claude Code and Codex transcripts read-only, and with the system voice and the rewriter off nothing leaves your Mac. ElevenLabs and the rewriter, both opt-in, send only the message text being spoken.
What is the main difference between Heard and Agents Aloud?
Agents Aloud reads the agent’s messages in full from its transcripts, in sessions you switch on or messages you click. Heard (heard.dev), the voice layer for coding agents, speaks short updates from agent hooks and puts questions, approvals and failures first.
Do they work outside macOS?
No. Agents Aloud needs macOS 26 or later, and Heard runs on macOS 14 or later.
Ready when your agents are
Hear the work without watching every screen.
Start with the full Heard Power experience for 14 days. No card required. The open source engine remains free.
Download Heard for Mac macOS 14 or later · Claude Code and Codex supported